New Factory Open finalized the Demola season

The event called New Factory Open gathered several hundred people yesterday to see the best Demola projects from Finland and abroad, the New Factory start-ups and the speakers from different innovation sectors. The day climaxed with a pitching competition of three Demola teams that were selected to the finals out of all Demola teams the day before. The winner of the best Demola team award was chosen by an international jury.

A bunch of TAMK students have been working in Demola projects this season and TAMK was strongly presented also in the teams that made their way to the final competition.

The winners of the best Demola team award, including also two TAMK media students:
Rosanna Salminen and Erika Sangah Kim.

One of the three teams in the final competition was working on a project called "Visualize it!" for Yle, the national broadcasting company. The international TAMK group members, Joanne NH Wong, Lubos Rezler and Martin Kleinberns were happy for being a part of Demola community. After the last pitching, only one thing needs to be done with the project: to present their concept for Yle representatives in the headquarters in Helsinki.

The succesful Visualize it! team created a concept called Uncle Onni for Yle to attract young people. 

TAMK exchange student Martin Kleinberns giving a pitch

The event attracted lot of people to see what's going on in the innovation scene

 Changseok Kang ,TAMK exchange student in Chemical Engineering, and  Réka Hajdu-Rahkama,
TAMK degree student in Environmental Engineering, were happy to present their Demola project.

This was the end of Demola Spring Season, but applying for Demola Summer starts at week 24. If you, TAMK degree or exchange student, are interested to work in a multidisciplinary team to create innovative solutions for real-world needs, check out the Demola page for more information.

Text and photos: Kaisa Merilahti, International Services

How to improve study success - Dutch students benchmarking in Tampere

The TAMK Kuntokatu Campus was like asleep during the holiday week, but the vibrant discussions started immediately when the group of Student Council members from Delft University of Technology arrived here yesterday morning. The Dutch engineering students were on a benchmarking trip in the Nordic countries in three destinations: Copenhagen, Trondheim and Tampere. The core question of their visit was how to improve the study success.

The President of Central Student Counsil - ORAS, Enne Hekma, explaining the aims of their research during the trip

 

In the Netherlands the current demands for reforming the higher education are similar to ours in Finland. Decreasing average study duration and changing the student state funding system are hot topics in both countries. Also the governmental budget for Dutch universities is more and more performance based, measuring education quality and study success. 

However, in the discussion with Student Union Tamko representatives, Henri Mäntysaari and Kristian Staack, we noticed also differences in the students’ situations. Students have different attitudes towards the study loans and the costs of studies also vary between the countries. 

The sunshine and lovely scenery over the Lake Näsijärvi made our guests to smile

The other important topic of the day was the working life connections. TAMK Student Recruitment Services presented what kind of support and options TAMK offers for the students. Also the concept of New Factory with Demola and Protomo environments was introduced. Our guests seemed to be thrilled with this unique combination of multidisplinary team work, creativity and working life contacts. Hopefully they got some new ideas to bring back home! Best of all, sharing experiences helps the hosts to see the own system from a new perspective as well.

During the week in Tampere the group visits also University of Tampere, Tampere University of Technology, Nokia and enjoys the winter activities.

Stylish way to promote Student Council's theme colors

Text: Kaisa Merilahti, International Services

Photos: Tuula Härkönen & Kaisa Merilahti

Lucky Media students experience GDC Europe and GamesCom

This years Game Developer Conference Europe and GamesCom guest lists included three students from our very own Degree programme in Media.  By winning the, Nokia sponsored, Demola organised mobile concept competition (read story ) we were able to choose any conference in Europe to visit!  Our choice was GDC Europe 2011 and the affiliated GamesCom trade event that were held during the same week in Cologne, Germany.  It was easy to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and take part in both kinds of event on the same trip. With us travelled Bernard Garvey from Demola who seemed to enjoy our company.  For GamesCom Nokia were unable to finance our visit because of it officially being a separate event so TAMK very generously sponsored the extra nights needed to visit the trade fair.

There were the most people in the booth area during the pauses in GDC

GDC Europe is known and respected world wide as a large event in the gaming industry.  This year it included many lectures, parties and of course networking.  There were lectures from Monday to Wednesday on subjects ranging from business and marketing to game design, programming, visual arts and production.  We were of course able to choose which lectures we went to and most of the time plumped for those that seemed the most interesting.  Parties took place every night too.  From which you had to choose the best as well.  Networking was easier at parties because the feeling was relaxed and you were able to talk about more than just work.  At the end of the day my handbag was always full of business cards!

The humoristic lecturer told us about game design

It was fun to see that despite being at such a large event we were also able to meet other students.  We came in contact with, among others, German and Swedish students.  It was also brilliant to get to know people from outside Finland that are actually studying in the same area.  By sharing experiences and ideas you no doubt learn best.  On the other hand we also got to know some Finns from the games industry, which is handy when we come to think about internships.  GamesCom also had representatives from various Universities and that increased the possibilities for exchange studies.

Nintendo was pretty popular because their new 3DS console

We also succeeded in mingling with one of the biggest forces in the industry:ArenaNet!  The firm was presenting a demo of their new game, Guild Wars 2.  We were even able to test the game on Wednesday before the event even began as trade visitors and press had their own preview of GamesCom.  At the end of the week the gigantic halls we full to the brim with enthusiastic gamers.  Having been invited to the NCSoft party we got the opportunity to meet the actual producers from ArenaNet.  We got to know, among others, famous concept artists Kekai Kotaki and Daniel Dociu - a real once in a life time opportunity.  One of our group member's dreams came true when these legends came up with a surprising and unusual idea.  The next day at gamescom, on stage, Kekai was to draw a Guild Wars 2 tattoo onto none other than Anna's shoulder.  Of course you didn't need to ask Anna twice and she snapped up the opportunity what with being such a huge fan of the game.

Anna was very happy with her new tattoo

The journey was no doubt one that none of the group will forget! We are more than pleased with what we have learnt and found the whole experience really inspiring.  In the future we will no doubt be looking for even more promising opportunities, like this, to explore.

Story: Emma Kiiski
Translation Douglas Symon
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The three awarded students, Emma Kiiski, Douglas Symon and Anna Narinen are students of Degree Programme in Media
Read more stories from/about IMPs, the Media students
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The Game Design Summer School starts today

Demola will this week be the venue for the Engage Game Design Summer School. The  international Summer School will tackle issues related to game design as well as how to embed curricular topics in the game design.

It will give designers and creative students insights and knowledge of educational game design e.g. creating educational games for the target group, embedding curricular topics and stealth learning, providing accurate information, consulting on one hand teachers and on the other hand the target group; asking the right questions and embedding these answers into the game.

The Game Design Summer School is organised by the Engage Learning Network and coordinated by Joanneum UAS in Graz, Austria and hosted by the Degree Programme in Media of Tampere UAS (TAMK) and Demola.


Pictured: New Zealander Paul Pivec and Slovenian Maja Pivec are the main organisers of the Summer School

Engage Summer School home
Engage Learning Project
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Welcome to Engage Learning Game Design Summer School!

Demola, the venue of the summer school, behind the TAF banner

The Summer School for students and young designers is to be held in Tampere, Finland, from 30th of August till 3rd of September in 2010 at the DEMOLA Centre of Innovation. The Engage Learning Summer school will tackle issues related to game design as well as how to embed curricular topics in the game design. The summer school (3 ECTS) will accommodate between 15 – 25 international students and game designers. For further information about the logistics and the application form, click on the links at Engage Summer School home

The Summer School is organised by the Engage project and hosted by TAMK/Media Programme. Engage is coordinated by our partner FH Joanneum in Graz, Austria.

This Summer School will give designers and creative students insights and knowledge of educational game design e.g. creating educational games for the target group, embedding curricular topics and stealth learning, providing accurate information, consulting on one hand teachers and on the other hand the target group; asking the right questions and embedding these answers into the game.

Lectures will be interleaved with practical work and will be provided by academic and industry experts. Topics will include:

• Game-Based Learning
• Game genres, platforms, and industry roles
• Gender issues and target audience analysis
• Design guidelines for successful games
• Concept documents and the development cycle
• Gameflow and usability testing
• Educational games and learning outcomes
• Game engines and development tools
• Marketing, packaging, and promotion

You will also need to prototype your idea and analyze the usability. This can be done on paper, as a mock-up, or by utilizing game engines provided during the school. This will obviously depend on the platform chosen for your concept.
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See the promo video
SummerSchool EngageLearning on Facebook
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FH Joanneum
TAMK Degree Programme in Media
Demola
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Tampere Innovation Experience @ Demola 25 May

Tampere Innovation Experience @ Demola Tuesday 25 May 2010 at 10:00-16:30 is a meeting of minds.

The event will bring together the Tampere research community to unleash resources and accelerate idea sharing in the spirit of open innovation.

The one-day program will feature short technology presentations by experts during which researchers, students and professors can engage old and new colleagues in conversation, challenge each other with ideas and come up with new ways to combine technologies. What?s more, we will have over 40 (TBD) demos on display representing cutting-edge technology in the ubiquitous digital society.

Read more about the event and register by 17 May:
http://research.nokia.com/innovation_experience_tampere

TAF – How can universities give students a kick to go global?

The international seminar "How Universities give students a kick to go global?" was kicked off in Demola by Jukka Siltanen and Taru Söderlund. Jukka invited the audience to ponder: "What can I learn?" and "How is it important to me personally?"

As Jukka pointed out, most importantly, TAF seminar is a day to celebrate TAMK students and their achievements! The speakers spoke of art and internationalism from different perspectives.

Andrea Zapata Girau showed a trailer of her up-coming Flamenco Movie, and Pekka Saari spoke about his film Memory of tomorrow, especially about combining the production with postproduction. Pekka Niskanen told the audience of the exhibition his students are having first at Werstas in Tampere and then in Dortmund. He also shared his experiences in the international art world. Then Robert Niva and Martti Sirkkola demonstrated their 3D animation project, in which they had learned the entire process of doing a 3D animation by doing it together, in a group, instead of relying on traditional lecture-based education. They explained the importance of using the wisdom of crowds and social media application in learning and producing art.


After the break it was time for Jukka Siltanen to take the stage again. Jukka talked about Hub Tampere and entrepreneurship. Hub Tampere is all about joint entrepreneurship and sharing both skills, ideas and resources. Hub Tampere has already had some excellent success, and Jukka sounded very optimistic about its future. The Proacademy students presented their projects: a Tampere guidebook for exchange students, a football tournament and its afterparty. Then producer Timo Vierimaa, spoke about his film, the "Steam of Life" ("Miesten vuoro") and how he succeeded in making his film truly international. According to Vierimaa, the keys to success are good presentation and communication skills along with patience.

The final speaker of the event was Juho Hartikainen from Score game development club, who explained how the Score game club came to be. Hartikainen emphasised the fact that the students who have the enthusism and drive to do new, innovative things, should be supported and encouraged. The students should feel like they are working for the school instead of just in the school. Siltanen, Vierimaa, Niva and Sirkkola as well as the highly interesting Proacademy projects, all highlighted the fact that so much of today's learning takes place outside the traditional classroom environment. This type of learning must be supported and nurtured, for it is the key to national and international success.


Andrea Zapata Girau final thesis work at TAMK

Links:
http://www.memoryoftomorrow.com
http://tamk-artmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/promoting-changes-exhibition-to-inter.html
http://3danimationproject.wordpress.com
http://hubtampere.wordpress.com
http://www.proakatemia.fi
http://score.igda.fi/

TiTeLAN LANparty @ Demola 9.-11.4.2010

Demola was also venue of Global Game Jam in January

Our own LANparty is here again! This time the party will be held in new premises in Demola, Finlayson and is on the whole weekend!

TiTeLAN is organized by Computer Systems Engineering students twice a year. Usually we have had around 70 visitors but this year since we got new premises the amount may rise close to 100 visitors. The event is absolutely FREE of charge and we welcome all TAMK students as well as our exchange students. Doors will open on Friday around 6pm and the event will be finished on Sunday afternoon.

To find out what is LAN party go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_party

The games which are usually the most popular in TiTeLAN are:
-BattleField: Bad Company 2
-Heroes of Newerth
-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
-WarCraft3: TFT
-WarCraft3: DoTA
-StarCraft
-Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
-Counter-Strike: Source
-Day of Defeat: Source
-Counter-Strike 1.6

In TiTeLAN we will arrange tournaments in Starcraft (1vs1) and Heroes of Newerth (3vs3). If you are interest on these check the boxes while you choose your place.

More information can be found from http://titelan.net/index.php?site_id=5 or by e-mail markkinointi@titelan.net

Sign up is open already so hurry up and reserve your place! Go to www.titelan.net.

TiTeLAN is a LAN party organised by the students of TAMK Computer Systems Engineering Programme.

MindTrek Diary, Day Two: Celebrating Aleksi, Joost and Frank

MindTrek is a world class conference with famous keynote speakers and sessions that deal with the most important issues of the digital future. If you want to learn more, check out the MindTrek website.

TAMK is one of the proud key institutions behind MindTrek, we are really happy to be a crucial part of this stunning event.

This blog does not however monitor the big stars of the global event, we keep in touch with the grassroot level.

IMPs, the international Media Programme students of TAMK School of Art and Media were there having breakfast in time before the shows started. Aleksi, one of the IMPs (in center), had his birthday, all the fellow IMPs sung the birthday song, and Aleksi's muffin was powered up with whipped cream and strawberries,

Our previous post presented the Innovator project, showed this week at MindTrek and next week in Cannes.

Pictured find Pauli Kopu, the driving force of the Innovator project, and Director Jukka P. Saarinen from Nokia Research Centre in Tampere, the Brain behind Demola and God Father of the Innovator at the Innovator stand at MindTrek.

Matti Särkilahti and Tuomas Rinne, Business Information System students and Antti Salomaa, Interaction Design student at TAMK UAS, who have been envolved in successful Demola projects, presented their work to MindTrek participants.

The day was wrapped out with the MindTrek Awards Ceremony. Here you see the winners of Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards, from right to left: Third Price winner Jan Roters, Traffic Light Detector (Germany), second prize winner Katrina Bekessy, PING, the Smart Trash Bin (USA), and the winners with Donkeypedia Frank Alsema and Joost van Eeden, the Netherlands.

Mirette Kangas (left) from YLE New Media and Hanna Puro, Zento Interactive are frequent MindTrek visitors, but surpricingly they met today for the first time at MindTrek after they worked together at the EUROPRIX jury in 2002 in Salzburg.

MindTrek
Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards

Donkeypedia
PING: The Smart Trash Bin
Traffic Light Detector

Dr. Helmut Voulliéme, Guest from Ostfalia UAS

Dr. Helmut Voulliéme, Professor in Interactive Media from Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences (earlier Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel UAS) paid a visit to TAMK this week. On Wednesday he visited TAMK main campus to meet Head of International Office Riku-Matti Kinnunen & other international office staff members and Director of R&D Perttu Heino.

Ostfalia UAS has been TAMK partner for a long time and the exchange and cooperation have been intense, but there has been no contacts in the fields of art and media. On Thursday Helmut Voulliéme visited the School of Art and Media at Finlayson Campus.

Helmut Voulliéme is head of the Media Design Programme which started a couple of years ago in Salzgitter Campus of the university, so he is the right person to talk about extending cooperation between Ostfalia and TAMK to include exchange and other cooperation between the Ostfalia Media Design Programme and TAMK Media Programme during the visit. The result of the visit was excellent, and we might see professors and students from Salzgitter already in May participating in School of Art and Media International Week 3-7 of May.

After the School of Art and Media tour he visited our neighbour, the ProAcademy study programme in entrepreneurship, which was introduced by Jukka Siltanen.
Of course there was also a visit to Demola, the joint innovation space of companies and students of all Tampere Universities.

Ostfalia UAS

Demola
ProAcademy
Pictured: Dr. Helmut Voulliéme in the roof garden of School of Art and Media

Tampere Art Factory Soon Ready for You

The second edition of Tampere Art Factory (TAF) is taking shape. You can already find the basic programme information at TAF website, and shortly there will be loads of more.

TAF is above all a demonstration of the skills and talent of the graduates and other students of the School of Art and Media at TAMK University of Applied Sciences, and their friends. This year also the music and media students of Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences contribute to TAF programme.

The main structure of both festival days, May 15 and 16 is the same, there will be:

• Screenings of fictional short films, documentaries and animations. There are seven sets of screenings, each with its own titel like "This Story is True - Documentaries", "Escape or Decision - life is a set of choices" and "Tobacco, Booze and Wild Ladies - Music Films". A schedule of the screenings will later be published also in English.
• Diskurssidisko – Fine art students' graduation exhibition at Art Centre Mältinranta and TR1 Exhibition Centre. Diskurssidisko has a website which will soon be published in English.
• Games and web media at Demola
• TAF lounge – music videos, animations etc. all day long
• Clubs at restaurant Laterna both nights
• much more

Also the workshops of the International Week of the School of Art and Media will present their results at TAF. Some 40 teachers and students from our international partner universities will attend the international week and TAF.

On Saturday there are two other events TAF is going to cooperate with, the Night of The Museums and the Markets of Possibilities of Tampere Social Forum. TAF will contribute to both with dance shows and performances.

Tampere Art Factory
The Night of the Museums
The Markets of Possibilities
Demola

Read all stories about TAF in the School of Art and Media blog

Score Teams Successfull in Imagine Cup

Two teams from Game Development Club Score have advanced to the second round of Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition! Thousands of competition entries were submitted from all around the globe to the competition, but only 150 teams continued to fight for the grand prize. Teams have now two months time to finish and polish their games before the second deadline in May. We wish great success for the Score teams and hope to see them in the finals in Egypt in July!

Did you know...

Score is a game development club founded in 2007 by interactive media students at TAMK School of Art and Media. Their goal is to promote Finnish game industry and helping students who hope to build career in games but don't know how. There are currently around 65 members in the club, mostly students from Tampere region. Score has also involved in organizing workshops with subjects like work flow in teams and agile development.

Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition is an annual global event in which competitors are required to create innovative prototypes. This year's theme is to promote the eight UN Millennium Development Goals, create potential solutions that address the toughest problems facing our world today.

There are many contest categories to choose between, robotics and algorithms for example. The Score teams are battling in game development category. The grand prize is 25 000 US$ divided between the members of the team, in addition to various development kits.

The successful games:
Unity
Villa Penguila

Ruffian Games Gareth Noyse comments the games

Imagine Cup
Imagine Cup Game Development competition
Score
UN Millennium Development Goals

You can try out these + other games and meet Score members in Demola during our Tampere Art Factory festival May 15-16.
Tampere Art Factory
Demola

Picture: Screenshot from Unity

Read about other activities of the School of Art and Media to promote the Millennium Development Goals

Dreamjobs for Students at Demola Innosummer

You will work for a real company as part of a project team. You will develop something that you have always wanted to:
a new UI for a computer game, machinima, or storytelling in Mixed Reality.

You will get paid for the job and learn something totally new. R&D specialists from the enabling companies will guide your work.

Act now! Application deadline is 15.4.2009.

There are numerous projects available in Demola Innosummer. See the listing below and choose 1 to 3 project topics that interest you. You are the person we need for the project if:

a) You are interested in the topic and have good, innovative ideas for it
b) You have skills and interest related to one or more project goals

The point is: You do not have to know about all the topics or goals listed under the project. The teams will be multidisciplinary, composed of people with different kinds of skills. The company that has set the project will provide the technological know how.

1. Play a game hands-free - A thought- controlled UI
2. New ways for mobile video recording, editing and event casting
3. Share your audiovisual experiences
4. A new, digital dimension to Guided Tours for tourists
5. Get a mobile connection to your virtual community
6. Machinima – storytelling in mixed reality; game, theatre, movie
7. 3D landscape as a mobile phone UI
8. Gesture controlled 3D characters in a computer game

Demola
All details about Demola Innosummer (pdf)
More stories about Demola (TAMK School of Art and Media Blog)

Demola is an open innovation environment for university students and ICT and media companies operating in the Tampere Region. It is a service provided jointly by TAMK University of Applied Sciences, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere University and Technology Centre Hermia Ltd.

Demola Selected as Activator of the Year

TAMK is a proud member of Demola. We are happy to publish the Demola press release:

The Demola open innovation environment was awarded "Activator of the Year" during the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 10th March 2009.

The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is arranged by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Demola is a service offered by higher education institutes in Tampere, ICT and Media companies and the Technology Centre Hermia to multidisciplinary student teams in order to develop digital products and services based on companies' concepts. Companies ranging from local SMEs (small to medium-sized companies) to international large-scale enterprises collaborate with the teams. The companies bring their project ideas for student teams to cultivate. Demola offers the teams the tools but the teams need to come up with the solutions themselves. The results are honed into real products and services to be part of the companies’ operations. An additional objective is to spawn new companies.

According to Jukka Saarinen, Demola’s contact person at Nokia Research Centre, an essential ingredient of Demola is the unique approach: the teams take the bull by the horns and get to work without being stifled by bureaucracy.

A developing concept

During the first five months, 12 projects have been underway within the framework of the Demola project. Some 100 students have been involved in the projects and their number is constantly growing.

The students taking part in Demola have had positive experiences: they have felt that they have learned a lot and formed connections with real companies. Demola’s premises are located in Tampere city centre. "In the future, Demola will be further extended and developed", says Brand Manager Petri Räsänen from Technology Centre Hermia.

Demola
More stories about Demola (TAMK School of Art and Media Blog)

Photo from the gallery at Demola.fi

Academic Network Conference in Graz

The Academic Network of the European Academy of Digital Media (EADiM) had the annual conference in Graz, Austria, end of last week. This year the conference was titled "Design, Develop, Deliver - Multimedia and e-content trends".

The sessions covered actual topics like

• Smart Interfaces – intuitive use of augmented and mixed realities
• Mega trends in e-content – what do they mean for education?
• Learning and Teaching Methods – innovations that raise the learning curve
• Students and Social Networks
• Teaching Interactive Story Authoring

I made a presentation about Demola, the New innovation environment in ICT and Media education in Tampere. It was good to see many of the partners of TAMK School of Art and Media again, also making new friends. All participants of the conference were welcomed to attend our International Week and Tampere Art Factory in May.

The Conference was arranged at FH Joanneum, which also is a TAMK partner university. On day 3 the conference joined an parallel event, the EUROPRIX Multimedia Festival. You will find a story about that soon in this blog.

EADiM Academic Network
EUROPRIX

Demola
Tampere Art Factory

Photo: Advent was celebrated in snowy Graz on Saturday. Trams were free of charge, and people enjoyed the Christmas Market in the old town. The picture was taken from the Needle of Kunsthaus Graz, venue of the EUROPRIX Multimedia Festival